Star-Spangled Kitsch: An astounding and tastelessly illustrated exploration of the bawdy, gaudy, shoddy mass-art culture in this grand land of ours

by Curtis F. Brown

Art History

Genres: History

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Jackalacka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in 1975, this author really nailed some tacky shit but also really missed the mark on how popular certain stuff. Too much writing and needs more pics.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a blast, if you can possibly track down a copy. It's a history of early American trash culture, from the beginning. It was the first place I ever heard of the infamously awful opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins, and my introduction to the idea that the fastest way to render something kitschy was to put a clock in it. Kitschy sculpture is also dealt with (the best/worst example being a rendering of George Washington which has him represented as the Greek god Zeus), as is bad art (everything from John Gast's "Western Course Of The Empire" to those paintings of kids with the big eyes from the 60's). There's a whole chapter on stereotype kitsch (racial, national, sexual), and another on art and history being cheapened by the advertising industry. Also such classics as: a John F Kennedy salt shaker, with, of course, holes in its head (from which the salt flows), boobs made into salt shakers, boobs made into bath mats, boobs made into candles, praying hands made into candles, praying hands made into paperweights with a penholder, praying hands made into night lights, a house shaped like a flying saucer, a crucifixion snowglobe (I do not kid), a Spiro T. Agnew trash can, and much, much more.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Didn't like it as well as I expected to, but it was still fun. I could have done with more photos and less preachiness. Though I suppose it's hard to define "kitsch" without sounding like some arbiter of cosmic taste. This sort of book has been done better--Jan and Michael Stern's The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste for instance--but it's still entertaining.